A federal appeals court denied a request to block same-sex marriages from being performed in Virginia, and unless the Supreme Court intervenes, couples can begin to wed as early as next week, according to court filings and the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

In a ruling handed down Wednesday, the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., denied a request for a stay of its 2-1 decision last month to overturn Virginia's voter-approved ban on gay marriage.

Officials in Prince William County had asked for the stay, and may still petition the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case, the ACLU said in a statement. Otherwise couples can begin to wed Aug. 20.

"We hope that the Supreme Court will leave this ruling in place, so that same-sex couples may begin marrying right away," Claire Guthrie Gastanaga, executive director of the ACLU, said in a statement. "Our clients have already waited far too long to exercise their constitutional right to marry, or to have their marriages from other states recognized."

The Alliance Defending Freedom, a nonprofit legal organization that represented the county clerk, said it intends to petition the nation's highest court to hear the case.

"The people of Virginia and every other state should continue to be free to preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman in their laws if they choose to do so," Executive Director Byron Babione said in a statement. "Because the Fourth Circuit chose not to place a hold on its decision as other courts - including the U.S. Supreme Court - have done in nearly identical cases, we intend to ask the high court to do so in this case before the Fourth Circuit's mandate goes into effect."

Same-sex marriage is now legal in 19 states and the District of Columbia, and every remaining state ban faces a court challenge.

The battle in Virginia, along with one in Utah, sets the stage for a possible Supreme Court ruling on the matter. Newly elected Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has repeatedly refused to defend the voter-approved ban in court, calling it unconstitutional, and he previously appealed to the high court to strike down the state ban.

The case could also end up in the high court if the Prince William County clerk files a petition.

Earlier this month, Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes filed a similar petition after a marriage in his state was overturned, saying he would welcome the finality of a Supreme Court ruling.